This invention relates to a game machine for moving objects, which enables a human operator to experience virtual reality.
In game establishments such as theme parks, a track travelling game machine adapted to move a vehicle along a course of movement such as, for example, a track furnished with curves and undulations, and to enable a human player on the vehicle to experience the sensation of a run at full speed and the sensation of exhilaration has formed a typical popular game machine. This game machine has been offered in various types such as keeping the human player in a standing position while in motion and keeping the human player in a position suspended from the track while in motion. A game machine of another type is adapted to advance a moving object along a channel of a fluid and enable a human player thereon to enjoy the delightful view of backgrounds and buildings laid out in a vicinity of the channel.
Further, in recent years, the game machine of yet another type adapted to move a seat as synchronized with an image and to integrate the image with the experience of the acceleration and deceleration of the speed of the seat enabling the occupant of the seat to experience the simulation of the movement of his seat, has been proposed. The game machine of this type is also known in various versions such as solely utilizing the occupancy by a human player, conferring the propensity for a game by combining the movement of a seat with the sensation of shooting, and so on (as disclosed in JP-B-02-15,230, for example).
The former version, however, has been at a disadvantage since it quickly ceases to hold lasting interest because of the use of a fixed course of movement which is devoid of visual variations. Since an effort to revive the game machine from the boredom by changing the course of movement or altering the peripheral facilities requires a large expense, this version does not easily permit such alterations to be made in short cycles from the viewpoint of business.
The latter version indeed permits such alterations to be implemented quickly and inexpensively because it allows the experience in simulation to be differentiated by simply altering the software, namely, the mode of moving the image and the seat. It nevertheless has had the problem of producing no sensation of the acceleration and deceleration of speed because it does not produce as high a sensation of acceleration and deceleration of speed as the former version. Further, the letter version suffers because the gravity actually sensed by the human player in his body to produce a sensation of discrepancy from the artificially generated gravity does not occur. The latter version has been further at a disadvantage in generating the same sensation of discrepancy with respect to the pressure of the wind which the human player experiences while the seat is in motion.
This invention has for an object thereof the provision of a game machine for a moving object, which enables an operator to differentiate his experience in simulation by making an arbitrary selection from the information on various courses of experience of simulation prepared in advance without requiring any alteration in the curves or undulations of the course of movement and also enables the operator to make an experience approximating as closely to reality as possible by properly providing him with an image conformity with his sensation of acceleration and deceleration of speed and the bearing of his body relative to the direction of the movement of the chair.